Isaiah 43:18-19
[18] Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. [19] Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. …
Remember...
*To call to mind.
*To be thought of.
*To hold in the mind.
But here’s the one I think the Holy Spirit is warning against.
*It is, to make a memorial.
In other words; to enshrine something as so important or so big and so grand that you can’t move past it, because you worship what you have enshrined.
The Holy Spirit asks the question, shall ye not know it?
In other words, it is very possible that I would do something new, better, greater, grander, more magnificent than you have ever seen or experienced before, but you can miss it because you’re still worshipping at the enshrined memory of the past.
When he says, "Remember not” He is saying, don’t let enshrined memories of the past keep you from moving forward.
Be thankful for the wonderful memories, but do not be a prisoner of the past, good or bad.
It’s time for a new thing. God said: Behold I will do a new thing!
As I was waiting on the Lord, meditating on where we are at-in our process, I heard the Lord speak 3 words to me. He often speaks to me Like that-Two or Three words.
At the time of this message weare quickly coming to the end of 2018, very soon we will be starting a brand new year. And I began to feel a stirring in my spirit about this new year; that's when I heard the spirit of the Lord say: positioned for transition.
I don't pretend that I know everything God has in store for us, as a body or as individuals. But I do understand that the word "transition"implies movement.
Let me be even more specific: "Transition speaks of movement, progress, of forward motion."
Transition is always about leaving one place to go to another.Elisha couldn't get to Bethel without leaving Gilgal.
The same is true about Jericho, He Couldn't get to Jericho without leaving Bethel.
*Transition means, leaving some things behind.
*Transition is something that requires participation.
*Transition can not happen by accident.
*Transition is a choice to co-operate and move with the Holy spirit.
Transition has 3 main components.
*Letting go of the old.
*Trusting.
*Taking hold of the new.
Why is transition so hard most of the time? Because most of the time the Holy Spirit doesn't tell us exactly where we are going. He just witnesses to our spirit that our time in a certain place or in certain conditions or an environment is getting ready to change. Then we must decide if we really want everything God has prepared for us or are we going to settle for the comfortable and the familiar.
That was Elijah's role in Elisha's transition: Elijah was playing the devil's advocate. In other words-Elijah was speaking as the devil would, to try and discourage someone from receiving Gods best.
Of course Elijah wanted Elisha to receive the mantle. He had poured into his life for over 10 years. But He knew Elisha had to want it enough to transition. in other words; He had to want it enough to let go of and leave the comfortable and the familiar to go after the unseen, and the unknown.
Transition is a difficult place many times because It is an in between place.
It is the squeezing place.
It's the place where you have left where you were, where you were adjusted, where you knew what to expect, where you had a pretty good handle on everything, and now you don't have a handle on anything.
*It is the place where faith is tested.
*it is the place where you are tempted to grumble and complain and start looking back to the old familiar comfort zone.
*It's the place where you either breakthrough or you break down.
*It is a necessary place because it is the proving ground, it is where you prove to God by your actions and your attitude that you are more interested in following him than being comfortable.
I think one of the most exciting and inspiring things that I learned from the story of Elijah and Elisha was this: Elisha went beyond his mentor...
*Elisha pushed for more.
*Elisha had developed his own appetite.
*Elisha didn't just want what he saw in and on Elijah, he wanted double.
Which means, he not only wanted what be had seen and experienced with Elijah, He wanted more, he wanted what he had never seen and never experienced
I believe Elijah as Elishas mentor, knew something about what God had in store for Elisha. He perceived it, he was preparing him for it...
But I believe Elisha's request surprised Elijah.
In reality it is what every mentor and spiritual father wants for their spiritual sons and daughters, but it is rare."I want double"
Thats the way it should be.
I want what God has for me through you, and then I want my own.
Because when I get ready to go, and its time for me to pass this mantle, it won't be Elijah’s mantle I'm passing, it will be mine.
I'm talking today about being positioned for transition. I've been talking about being positioned for transition because one of the most important ways to to position ourselves for transition is to know what to expect: In other words; to know what transition looks like and feels like.
The Holy spirit is giving as a sense of what to expect as we transition.
Positioning ourselves for transition begins by deciding that...
*If there is more for us we want it.
*If there is something better we want it.
*If there is a better way, we want to learn it.
*If there is a greater anointing we want it.
Positioning for transition means...
*To anticipate the new.
*To anticipate the different.
*To anticipate the greater.
*To anticipate the unknown.
*To anticipate the uncomfortable.
Anticipate means, to expect, figure on, to look forward to enthusiastically.
Illustration: When you go camping, you leave your microwave, and curling Iron and hair dryer; you anticipate the uncomfortable and the inconvenient.
You anticipate that something may happen out of the ordinary. Thats part of the excitement of camping, the thought of seeing and experiencing new things, different things, things beyond your control.
That is part of positioning for transition.
It is facing the future fearlessly, knowing that this is a God journey and the one who has brought you to this place is the same one who is leading the way into the unknown.
I believe this is the reason God would lead the children of Israel through the wilderness with a cloud by day and a fire by night.
Gods part was to lead the way by a pillar of cloud or a pillar of fire. Their part was to stay positioned for transition; in other words, they were to live every minute with an attitude of readiness to move when the cloud moved.
Exodus 13:21-22
[21] And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: [22] He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.
Exodus 40:36-38
[36] And when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward in all their journeys: [37] But if the cloud were not taken up, then they journeyed not till the day that it was taken up. [38] For the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.
This was put in the scriptures to illustrate to us that we are never to get stuck, even if and when it was God that led you to the place you are. Even when you know that what you are experiencing is a God thing.
You have to stay positioned for transition. There has to be a sensitivity to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
That cloud and that fire are not in the natural physical visible arena anymore. Now that cloud and that pillar of fire is in you.
The Holy Spirit leads us from the inside, but it is just as real and just as valid and more so than how he led the children of Israel.
Moses didn't know the way through the wilderness either, he was depending on the cloud and the fire too.
Moses greatest responsibility was the same as mine, to keep the people stirred up. To keep them in a spirit of anticipation.
To keep them in an attitude of transition, to keep them positioned for transition.
*To keep them looking forward.
*To keep them leaning forward.
*To keep them pressing forward.
*To keep them anticipating the future.
*To not let them settle down.
*To remind them, this is not it; this is not all there is...
You haven’t seen anything yet.
This is just the tip of the iceberg.
This is just a sample of what is to come.
I do not believe that this word today is limited to us, to our church. I believe this is a word to the true body of Christ, the sanctified ones, the ones who have separated themselves from the confusion and corruption that is in our world and our society.
There is a shift taking place and something very powerful is getting ready to happen, and God is sending this word to us to position us for this transition.
I feel it in the spirit as though it is a portal into the next dimension that will not be open long, and we must seize the moment.
